It's the MEDIA, people.

[Octafish]

Want to know why idiots can organize and We the People can't?

Look at your television screens.

Listen to your radio.

Look at your newspapers and magazines and books -- those who read them.

They are filled with lies and junk and propaganda.



China Central TV Headquarters

Members of the government, by law, aren't allowed to engage in communication subterfuge. They can talk to the People, as long as it's clear who is saying what, but they aren't allowed to lie or disguise the message in a way that makes it seem to be coming from another source. That's why reports of the Army posing officers as CNN interns and the Generals on Fox talking up a war is so disturbing. Propaganda is illegal -- that's supposed to be illegal for the government to purvey.

And that explains why Mr. Rush "Dominican Viagra" Limbaugh gets away with his lies and Rupert Murdoch and Sun Myung Moon and the rest of the rabid right are willing to spend so much to propagate that fascist ideology. It has been broadcast 24/7 pretty much without interruption since the Fairness Doctrine got the legislative ziggy, courtesy of Mr. Reagan and Co.

So the rabid Right is able to mount a pretty effective propaganda campaign -- seemingly independent of the GOP -- that helps swiftboat Sen. Kerry, sink Universal Health Care, and prevent President Obama from addressing the nation's school kids.


What's worse:

Most of what you see and hear broadcast is controlled by a handful of corporations.

Most of what you read -- those who read -- is largely controlled by a handful of corporations.

Corporations are controlled largely by a handful of the very wealthiest class of people.

Do you think they side with the middle classes and poor?

What's worst: The CIA and the rest of the nation's Secret Government answers to Them.

[ixion]

1. Spot on. Without the MSM enablers, they'd have nothing

but because the MSM treats them as credible even though they're, you know, whacko, it makes it next to impossible to have an intelligent discussion about anything.

[Octafish]

9. The first to lie gets the prize.

The reason Rove and Company are so quick to put out their line of BS is that if they get it into a person's head first, it is much harder later to change that person's attitude with truth. One of my clients heard about the Death Panels. She's about 60 y.o.a. and, no matter what I said about Sean Hannity, would not open her eyes.

Notice who makes the big bucks: The bigger the liar, the more money they make, from anchors to star columnists.

Those who make little bucks: The bigger the truth teller, the smaller the paycheck, from good reporters to good teachers.

[Hannah Bell]

78. or: the closer to big money, the bigger the paycheck.

[H2O Man]

2. Definitely.

The media is our enemy. It is being used against us.

Recommended.

[Octafish]

14. It isn't free speech when only those with money to pay for it are allowed to generate it.

Abraham Lincoln warned us about the power of corporations -- concentrated and lasting wealth.

"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed."

-- U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864
(letter to Col. William F. Elkins)
Ref: The Lincoln Encyclopedia, Archer H. Shaw (Macmillan, 1950, NY)

SOURCE w ESSAY: http://www.ratical.org/corporations/Lincoln.html

With their giant megaphone, the corporations and the swells who own them can drown out important ideas, news about the U.S. Government, and information needed to make wise decisions as voters and citizens.

[bkohatlanta]

36. If we could get a couple of Stories out there Republicans would have no where to run.

1) Rios Montt was a Guatemalan General who exterminated 250,000 Catholic Mayan Indians(men, women children and babies massacred) and gave their land to the Christian Fundamentalist who supported him. Several attempts to have him tried as a War Criminal have been thwarted by the Republican Party. Guatemalans and Americans who have knowledge of Rios Montt say it was Jerry Falwell, and continues to be Pat Robertson, John Hagee and Franklin Graham who are pushing the Republican Party to protect him. Can you imagine trying to defend that.
2) In 2002, 6,000 votes disappeared in The Alabama Governor's Election in which Don Seigelman lost re-election against Bob Riley. Probate Judge Adrian Johns, in charge of the vote count in Baldwin County, sent Democratic Poll watchers home in the early AM, Election Night and then proceeded to conduct a third ILLEGAL recount. Mysteriously 6,000 votes for Siegelman disappeared in this 3rd recount. Bob Riley won statewide by 3,000 votes when he in fact won by 9,000. Any investigation is going to ask Republicans they can't answer.

[Wiley50]

90. I wish I was a Demolitions expert (I'm not) with access to huge quantities of HE

Fox and ABC HQS as well as the HQS of the worst of the corporate offenders would resemble the Murrah Federal Building
Innocents would die but so have millions in Iraq and Afganistan. War is Hell

McVeigh was a fool. Driving away from the scene of the crime in a car with no plates, no drivers license or registration.
The Iraqis got it right. disposable cell phone detonators.

Of course, this is only fantasy .

YOU HEAR ME AGENT MIKE. A Fantasy

[Lorien]

3. I've been saying the same, but plenty of young "progressives" will stand

AGAINST the reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine and tell you that "breaking up monopolies is the only way". There are hundreds upon hundreds of banking institutions, but that doesn't stop all of them from writing bad loans. Breaking up the media giants is far from enough; reinstating the Fairness Doctrine is the ONLY way to see fairness in media coverage. And for those too young to remember the media prior to Ronny Reagan; watch some old news clips. Watch Bill Moyers when he goes after both the Right AND the Left on an issue where they both are wrong and clearly presents the facts. The Fairness Doctrine worked by keeping the people more informed about the issues, and that's why the GOP hated it.

[Octafish]

15. Robert Parry and ConsortiumNews also give a damn about the Fairness Doctrine

By throwing out the Fairness Doctrine, nearly no one on the public airwaves was discussing in-depth issues like defunding the cities, disappearing manufacturing jobs, public education, and the launching of two illegal, immoral and unnecessary wars of empire.



Mandarin Oriental hotel, set ablaze by celebratory fireworks
launched by people on the roof of the neighboring China Central TV studios

Media in Crisis

[Tim01]

4. A numbers of years ago the CIA started putting reporters on the payroll.

And what is good for the corporations is good for the country.

[Octafish]

18. ''The Mighty Wurlitzer'' is how Allen Dulles described it.

THE MIGHTY WURLITZER PLAYS ON by the late Gary Webb explains it for those new to the story.

The CIA and the Media

Here's just a snippet from Carl Bernstein's famous 1977 article entitled "The CIA & The Media" from Rolling Stone, 10/20/77. Anyone with access to a library should try to find this - it's a truly breakthrough piece - 16 pages long in the reprint!

In 1953, Joseph Alsop, then one of America's leading syndicated columnists, went to the Philippines to cover an election. He did not go because he was asked to do so by his syndicate. He did not go because he was asked to do so by the newspapers that printed his column. He went at the request of the CIA.

Alsop is one of more than 400 American journalists who in the past 25 years have secretly carried out assignments for the Central Intelligence Agency according to documents on file at CIA headquarters. Some of these journalists' relationships with the Agency were tacit; some were explicit. There was cooperation, accommodation and overlap. Journalists provided a full range of clandestine services -- from simple intelligence-gathering to serving as go-betweens with spies in Communist countries. Reporters shared their notebooks with the CIA. Editors shared their staffs. Some of the journalists were Pulitzer Prize winners, distinguished reporters who considered themselves ambassadors without portfolio for their country. Most were less exalted: foreign correspondents who found that their association with the Agency helped their work; stringers and freelancers who were as interested in the derring-do of the spy business as in filing articles; and, the smallest category, full-time CIA employees masquerading as journalists abroad. In many instances, CIA documents show, journalists were engaged to perform tasks for the CIA with the consent of the managements of America's leading news organizations.

The history of the CIA's involvement with the American press continues to be shrouded by an official policy of obfuscation and deception for the following principal reasons:

* The use of journalists has been among the most productive means of intelligence-gathering employed by the CIA. Although the agency has cut back sharply on the use of reporters since 1973 (primarily as a result of pressure from the media), some journalists are still posted abroad.

* Further investigation into the matter, CIA officials say, would inevitably reveal a series of embarrassing relationships in the 1950's and 1960's with some of the most powerful organizations and individuals in American journalism.

Among the executives who lent their cooperation to the Agency were William Paley of the Columbia Broadcasting System, Henry Luce of Time Inc., Arthur Hays Sulzberger of the New York Times, Barry Bingham Sr. of the Louisville Courier-Journal, and James Copley of the Copley News Services. Other organizations which cooperated with the CIA include the American Broadcasting Company, the National Broadcasting Company, the Associated Press, United Press International, Reuters, Hearst Newspapers, Scripps-Howard, Newsweek magazine, the Mutual Broadcasting System, the Miami Herald and the old Saturday Evening Post and New York Herald-Tribune.

By far the most valuable of these associations, according to CIA officials, have been with the New York Times, CBS and Time Inc.

CONTINUED...

http://www.realhistoryarchives.com/media/ciamedia.htm

And they've owned anybody who's pretty much anybody ever since is how somebody or another put it.

[troubledamerican]

22. Carl Bernstein's "CIA & The Media" -- Bannable Link

http://www.carlbernstein.com/magazine_cia_and_media.php

[Hannah Bell]

79. joe & stewart alsop = teddy roosevelt's great-nephews.

[SecularMotion]

69. Operation Mockingbird

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird

[dalaigh lllama]

5. Exactly!

I remember growing up and pitying those poor Russians with their propagandized news. Ha! And now I can barely stand to watch what they dish out to us over our own air waves. And so many people swallow it hook, line, and sinker. Guess it's harder to recognize when one's the intended target.

[Octafish]

20. Hard for a fish to see the water.

Or: It's impossible to see the frame when you're part of the picture -- the media environment generated by Corporate McPravda.



1996 by Chantell Montellier

We've been swimming in very polluted waters since November 22, 1963.

JFK -- How the Media Assassinated the Real Story

[Cobalt-60]

83. Im past that. No cable, no antenna

What runs on my tube is strictly canned entertainment and
recordings of a few old programs sans superimposed banners.
News comes from journalists-which is to say foreign sources like BBC.

[Joe the Liberal]

6. Exactly.....

the media in this day and age is a scourge of our nation.

[Octafish]

21. Hard to believe, but it contines to get worse -- as if such a thing were easy.

Here's the author and quote I was trying to remember:

"The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media."

-- William Colby, the late Director of Central Intelligence, passed away in a boating accident, apparently.

[malaise]

7. 100% correct

Impression management.

[Octafish]

44. Control what people think.

Control what people do.

Same holds for controlling what people don't think about.

Information Behavior is a very exciting field, one I bet gets a lot of CIA government funding.

[Gold Metal Flake]

8. The media is our greatest enemy.

The corporate conservative deathgrip on our mass media must be broken. It's not gonna happen without great sacrifice.

[Octafish]

48. Absolutely -- ''Great Sacrifice'' on the part of Rupert, Rev Moon, ABCNNBCBSetc.

Boycott the turds' advertisers till they are no more.

By "turds" I mean those news organizations that put profits before their responsibilities as outlined in the First Amendment.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Please not that "the press" is the only business mentioned by name anywhere in the constitution. The reason: An informed citizenry is vital for our nation to survive.

After Corporate McPravda goes out of business, we can then build a new type of news media that actually serves We the People.

[Cetacea]

10. Thank you. You carry more weight here than I do !

And rightfully so.:thumbsup:

[Octafish]

49. We are Democrats -- We believe all people hold equal value as citizens.

And as good people, we believe all people are of infinite value just for being human.



And we also believe all life is precious, especially intelligent, peace-loving beings.

Good Democrats, I believe, also hold that each is entitled to be supreme to the government, which exists to serve us.

Thank you for your kind words, Cetacea. Please know I feel the same way about you and all good DUers.

[Triana]

11. They've been part of the problem for at least the past 20+ years and getting worse...

they don't tell the truth about anything or anyone. They tell the story that gets them the most profit from advertising and viewers, listeners (radio), gets them the most website clicks, and magazine/paper sales. However they have to twist, trivialize, or sensationalize a story or issue and no matter what or WHO they destroy in doing it to get the most PROFIT, that's what they're gonna do.

And virtually ALL major media outlets are part of huge corprat conglomerates who also in the weapons, entertainment, energy, and health care industries too. (et al). They aren't going to tell YOU anything that would hurt their precious profits in these industries either. If they do, it won't be the truth.

Funny how some people still believe ANYTHING they say without seriously questioning it - whether it's about health care, the run-up to a war and justifications for that, torture and rendition, terrorist attacks, political races, the environment, or even celebrities.

THEY LIE, DISTORT, MISREPORT, AND FAIL TO REPORT MAJOR PARTS OF STORIES & FACTS ABOUT PEOPLE, EVENTS, AND ISSUES. THEY SENSATIONALIZE the insignificant and TRIVILAIZE the significant in order to SHAPE public perception on issues - AND people.

They are perpetually masturbating merchants of propaganda that exist solely for the benefit of themselves and for the government THEY BOUGHT that supports and represents them exclusively. They DO NOT provide a public service. THEY PROVIDE SELF-SERVICE ONLY. (ie: they are NOT here to benefit YOU or issues that concern YOU - they just want YOUR MONEY, viewership, listenership and for you to buy their nasty little rags and believe all they say, broadcast blog, and print so they can keep that profit rolling in)

NOTHING the media or tabloids say, blog, print, or broadcast about ANYONE or ANYTHING ought to be believed without TRUCKLOADS of skepticism, more truckloads of salt, and serious scrutiny to find out the FACTS -- 'cause I guarantee you ain't gettin' them from the lame$tream corprat-pwn3d media - and damn sho not the tabloids though I see a lot of people who even believe that shit.

Have I said today that I H8 the lame$tream media? Well, I have now.

Till tomorrow...when I'll probably say it again if not sooner.

[Octafish]

57. Thank you for putting the real story into words.

Prof. Henry H. Bauer theorizes there are two ways to transmit knowledge, which he terms "Maps" and "Stories."

People remember stories.

Abstract—The most reliable knowledge is map-like: “If you do this, then that will always follow.” But such knowledge carries little if any inherent human meaning. Most meaningful is story-like knowledge, which teaches about morals and values; but about that, agreement cannot be forced by demonstration. Failure to distinguish between the meaningfulness and the reliability of knowledge helps to make arguments intractable. It would be very useful always to ask about a bit of claimed knowledge, “Is this more like a story or more like a map ?”

PDF of above: Two Kinds of Knowledge - Maps and Stories

This helps explain all the un-democratic bushwa: It's there to fill what should be thinking bits with misdirections and blind allies, instead of considering our situation and figuring ways of improving our predicament.

[Gabi Hayes]

12. picking up an antidote at the library tonight

http://www.amazon.com/Gonzo-Life-Work-Hunter-Thompson/dp/B001EDFSIQ



narrated by Johnny Depp

[Gabi Hayes]

13. my library is also buying this for me, on Monday:

cd version of the movie.

http://www.shoutfactorystore.com/prod.aspx?pfid=5256808&gclid=CMmHqoSj2ZwCFQ0aawod-RfhBA

I love my library!

they've bought over 20 books/CDs/DVDs I've asked them to

[Octafish]

59. Read ''Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'' while riding the El in Chicago...

...People thought I was nuts, laughing out loud while standing up for the rush hour ride.
When they saw what I was reading, they understood what the ha-has where all about.

You do have an excellent library, my Friend! Our librarians were one of the few groups of professionals to stand up to the fascist Bush Inc, and I thanked mine for it.

[Gregorian]

16. This should be our solitary message, and where we consolidate our efforts.

I have honestly thought that just about everything else we do is wasted energy as long as the media can continue manipulating the truth.

Without the big changes that are required in order to bring the media back in line with the actual reality that they are supposed to report, all else is futile.

The public health care option is an OPTION. How on earth could anyone ever get riled about an option? It's literally insane. Or it is the result of manipulation by the media. I can think of no clearer example. Of course the lead up to the attack on Iraq was easily as horrific and deceitful. And ultimately in both cases many people will suffer.

[Wednesdays]

27. You took the words right out of my mouth

I have long been screaming this from the moment Obama was elected: that if nothing was done about the media FIRST, all other endeavors will be in vain.

[Octafish]

64. The illegal, immoral and unecessary wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are based on lies...

...would make an excellent starting point for public discourse, once the media are returned to the People.

Controlling the megaphone is what the Wizard of Oz was all about. And it shows in the show-bizz media manipulating wizardry of the GOP, owners of Corporate McPravda.

Cheney and Bush lied America into war. They cut taxes for their base, the Elite, and then threw their bosses and cronies all the lucrative contracts Karl Rove and Jack Abramoff could imagine. The Just-Us department protects their friends and persecutes those who stand up to them. The economy serves the same bosses and cronies. They use the powers of the CIA and NSA to spy on and kill whoever they want. Worst of all, thanks to Sneer and Smirk and their treasonous crew, the country staggers at the verge of collapse.

[sabrina 1]

65. I couldn't agree more. If there is an important grass-roots

effort that needs to be organized, it is this. To destroy the fake media's credibility and its profits. I never understood why, after it was obvious that the media would never cover anti-war demonstrations, no matter how big, the effort that went into organizing them, did not transfer to going after the media.

Boycotts, eg, work. Had the effort been put on huge Media boycotts instead of into demonstrations which were known only to those who participated in them, we might have accomplished something by now.

We don't have to buy their newspapers, or pay for their cable news outlets. I was always surprised when any of this was suggested, even on Democratic boards, it was mostly dismissed.

But, as you point out, without a free and independent press, nothing can be accomplished that benefits the people.

The huge number of news media outlets owned by the likes of Sun Myung Moon and Rupert Murdoch, neither one a citizen of this country, should be an outrage to the 'patriots' on the right. Moon having stated outright his hatred for the US ~ calling it 'The Great Satan'. One would think that this would bring out the tea-baggers, birthers, freepers et al in force. I have actually linked to info on Moon for them, but they simply change the subject.

I'm more than willing to support any effort to boycott all of them. But such an effort does require organization.

[Kaleko]

17. Well, what else is new?

"Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play."

- Joseph Goebbels

So, Octafish, what's the latest story about those two Japanese businessmen caught crossing the border between Italy and Switzerland with $ 35 billion (give or take) in US bearer bonds? Any info you might have gathered would be much appreciated. I read DU because of people like you.

[Octafish]

68. The Chiasso thing was for $134 Billion.

...and, going by the zero hits on the subject at GOOGLE snooz, it looks like they got let-go, scot-free, as it were.

From a coupla friendly DUers aus Schweiz:

The Chiasso thing

I think the whole Chiasso thing would be a HUGE embarrassment to the US, Swiss Financial Police and even Japan. But we'll see when (IF) a report ever comes out.

But how dorkish to be Japanese and getting on a train in Southern Switzerland with a cache like that, real or fake. I'm the tallest, most red-haired woman in Ticino and even after a decade of living here, I'm a "suspect" when I ride the train between Italy and Ticino. I _never_ travel between countries without several forms of ID: Nebraska driver's licencse, US passport, Swiss work "permesso," Swiss driver's license, etc., and ONLY Euros or Swiss francs. There's plenty of "dumber than a sack of sh!t" to go around in the Chiasso fiasco, for sure. The train is no place to smuggle $134 billion, real or forged, for sure.

Good grief!

/DUer1

>Hi, DUer1

>It seems obvious: A few on Uncle Sam's secret team -- the Wall
>Street-CIA axis of Old Boys -- are the ones calling the shots.
>There's no way a pair of apparent smugglers would be allowed
>out of jail, scot-free unless they were officially cleared by
>the governments of Switzerland, Italy, Japan and the U.S.
>
>What may be: Worried that their paper assets were fast losing
>their value, the Japanese Ministry of Finance may have been
>sending a shot across the bow of The Fed. Rather than
>transporting the documents in the diplomatic pouch, they sent
>a couple of guys across the border in a way that would make
>them stand out from the local crowd.
>
>I'm sorry I didn't send this sooner. Here's what I got:
>
>>ref="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph... "]Suitcase
>With 134 Billion Puts Dollar on Edge
>
>The story dropped off the media radar here, completely. What
>that tells me is that the powers-that-be want us to forget and
>move on to the next inanity (cough: seanhannity!) of
>irrelevance. And that is troubling, because an increasing
>number of We the People have caught on to these gangster
>times. Personally, I sure would like to have examined the
>documents myself.
>
>Thank you, my Friend. Please know you and yours, and my new
>friend, DUer2, have family in Detroit. Nostra casa es su
>casa.
>
>Warmest regards,
>
>Octafish
>
>
>>Hi, Octafish,
>>
>>You had asked in a thread about the bonds thing at Chiasso,
>>and I asked a DU friend to read through some of the recent
>>Italian-language media coverage and give me an update (my
>>Italian is pretty rough). Here's what he says (below).
>>
>>I hope this finds you and your family well. It's so nice to
>>have kindred spirits like you on DU. I've been trying to
>help
>>make LBN better by planting some seeds about the big old
>world
>>out there beyond US media coverage, and GD, too, by slipping
>>in some threads about ethics, the arts/humanities, prison
>>reform, etc. Dunno if I've screaming into a vacuum or what;
>>sure seems like it sometimes. But that's alright. It's the
>>action and intent that count. ;)
>>
>>Warm regards from here,
>>
>>/DUer1
>>
>>ciao DUer1.
>>well the situation is not clear there. no official document
>>released to confirm the fact that those bonds are rubbish.
>and
>>the two japanese escaped quite easily, i'd say. means that
>>secret levels are involved and as usually the european
>>authorities bow to the US more or less secret organizations,
>>be it banking or military.
>>impossible to make it clear if documents are not produced.
>>sooner or later there will be an official draft coming out -
>>but until then, impossible to say.
>>
>>ciao ;)

>>(big storm down here. my body is still screaming its
>>pleasure)
>>____________________________
>>
>>Hi, DUer2,
>>
>>Could you check this thread at DU, with regard to the "fake
>>bonds" Japanese guys stopped on the train at Chiasso this
>>summer?
>>http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
>>
>>
>>
>>I tried to explain a little bit about what we "locals"
>assume
>>about the situation, but my Italian (as I've told you) is
>>absolutely basic, and a smart, native Italian speaker like
>you
>>could provide some much better insight into media reports on
>>the situation than I could ever hope to provide.
>>
>>Google news on the situation:
>>http://news.google.ch/news/search?um=1&ned=us&hl=en&q=c...
>>
>>(Showers here this afternoon, cool and lovely -- listening
>to
>>"Peace of Mind" piano music on CD and developing a sketch
>for
>>a large-scale painting. :-)
>>
>>Big hug from XXYY,
>>
>>DUer1

Thank you for remembering, my Friend. Until we get control of the mass media, our memories will be our secret cache of truth, ready always for sharing. Thank you also for understanding, Kaleko.

[Kaleko]

88. That's right - it was $ 134 billion, not $ 35 (give or take).

One-hundred-thirty-four BILLION US dollars... smuggled into Switzerland.

My memory must have boggled when I wrote $35 b because the sum was too huge for it to conceive of anew, lol.

Thanks for the update, Octafish. I agree with the assessment that if those Japanese smugglers have been released into the wild, it must have been on orders of very highly positioned government officials in the US, Japan, Italy and Switzerland combined. The New World Order is here. Big Business and government have merged. There's an international class of people that operates completely above the law and it does so openly at this point.

We're just trying to catch up with what's going down, sifting through the crumbs the corpsmedia tosses our way for clues. Thank god for truth-seeking keyboard warriors on the internet. They sometimes get a bad rap when the 'truthers' (in the broadest sense) actually are our only hope.

[KoKo]

19. And....Obama's FCC....the reorganization we were waiting for...

The one we expected all these years since Eric Alterman and others who followed first got on this all those years ago?

What happened. Wasn't a priority. After all...we have Rachel, Keith, "Big Ed" and.......and ......and ......and......and......and.....??????

[SammyWinstonJack]

43. +1 nt

[AntiFascist]

51. They certainly have ignored Sibel Edmond's recent testimony n/t

[Jackpine Radical]

71. Sibel Edmonds? Who's Sibel Edmonds?

I was absolutely amazed to discover that a good friend, who is generally very politically aware, knew nothing of Sibel when I mentioned her a couple of days ago. Even the Blogosphere seems to have been damped down on this one.

[AntiFascist]

72. Amazing isn't it?

When it comes to heroin, cocaine or arms illicit trade the stories are easily covered up or silenced. Witness the death of Gary Webb and the hounding of Michael Ruppert.

[Octafish]

70. Revitalized FCC will want to look at all them commercials, too.

Should the various crises facing President Obama give him a moment, an FCC interested in cleaning the fascist vermin from the airwaves would look into the work of commercials, as well as what passes for entertainment and news "content."

With their fascist imagery, commercials create in the minds of the young an ideal of what people should LOOK like. They teach kids to associate happiness with consumerism. They teach adults to look down on the poor and The Other. And for those interested in learinging a bit about the world outside, the news frames what they want to frame and keep what they don't want the public to know about out of the frame. The assassinations of the leaders of the Liberal, Progressive and pro-Peace wing of the Democratic Party are taboo to discuss; another important subject bearing on our present situation is social control through mass media.

From Nov. 22, 1963 clear through September 10, 2001, it was one Big Lie with a bunch of attendant Big Lies. It's been one freaking psyop carnival, starting with September 11 -- when they showed over and over and over and over again the planes hitting the twin towers and they conflated blame heaped on Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein in particular as well as the Muslim world, in general.

Knowing Poppy, Baker and the crew they front, I smelled a rat that day. Still, most of my neighbors became rightwing nutjobs overnight. And look how many people STILL think Saddam was responsible for 9-11.

Yeah. My sisters like Colbert and Stewart. Other than that, zip.

[KoKo]

75. Well said Octafish...and let's go after those Drug Commercials while we are at it for Propaganda

making folks think they've got every ailment they can concoct and take a pill (usually not well tested under the Bush FDA) to cure it...even with the disclaimers there are innocent minds who will be taken in and many who are "sensitives" will fall into a "sick mentality of hypochondria" from the constant drumbeat of sickness. It's psychological mind control of another kind.

[troubledamerican]

23. U.S. Military Airwaves = Rush Limbaugh, effectively endorsed.

[Octafish]

95. It's amazing government'd give a vulgar, drug-addled pigboy access to service members' minds.

It shows me, my Friend, that the people who opposed President Kennedy's efforts to cut down the influence of the far-right wing are in power.

Here, courtesy of the great (DUer, too, proud to say) John Simkin, is the story of Major General Edwin Walker and the John Birch Society. Gen. Walker REALLY wanted to get a most undemocratic point across: JFK represented the vanguard of Liberalism, Socialism and Communism.

[OnyxCollie]

24. K&R. nt

[Octafish]

97. Stories a Free Press would cover: Bernie ''touched'' the family of SEC investigator

Madoff had contact with SEC officials while running Ponzi scheme.

[G_j]

25. why can't I rec this a thousand times? nt

[Octafish]

98. Stories a Free Press would cover: 'American Casino' A.K.A. 'Financial Sector'

'American Casino': How Our Nation's Financial Sector Became a Massive and Unregulated Gambling Operation

[AuntPatsy]

26. Which is what royaly po's me when I read alot of DU...they should all read your op for

the answers as to why....

[Octafish]

99. Thank you, AuntPatsy. The ''Why?'' seems like a good place to start...

DU can be the antidote to what ails our democracy.

Old news to you, my Friend, but for those wondering about the subject:

Know your Bush Family Evil Empire



Know your BFEE: It wasn’t Obama who Looted the Treasury and Banks. It was Bush and his Cronies.

Know your BFEE: John McCain, Dim Knight Errant of the War Party

Know your BFEE: Goldmine Sacked or The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One

Know your BFEE: Phil Gramm, the Meyer Lansky of the War Party, Set-Up the Biggest Bank Heist Ever.

Know your BFEE: The Corrupt Bastards Club… with Lipstick

Know your BFEE: Olympic Games Show Who’s Best Friends Forever with Authoritarians and Dictators

Know your BFEE: 1984 Death of Outstanding Congressional Staffer Buried Poppy-Moon Relationship

Know your BFEE: Forget Rev. Wright! It’s Bush and His Cronies Who Owe an Apology for Rev. Moon!

Know your BFEE: GW Bush Covers Up His Lying America Into War

Know your BFEE: Bush and His Crooks with Badges Sent an Innocent Man to Jail

Know your BFEE: They Looted Your Nation’s S&Ls for Power and Profit

Know your BFEE: War and Oil are just two longtime Main Lines of Business

Know your BFEE: Bush has Killed a Million Innocent People for Their Oil.

Know your BFEE: Scions of the Military Industrial Complex

Know your BFEE: Spawn of Wall Street and the Third Reich

Know your BFEE: Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ford Covered Up CIA Murder of American Scientist

Know your BFEE: Money Trumps Peace. Always.

Know your BFEE: They kill good soldiers like Col. Ted Westhusing for profit.

Know your BFEE: America’s Ruling Gangster Class

Poppy Bush brought up JFK Assassination and "Conspiracy Theorists" at Ford Funeral

Know your BFEE: Robert Gates did more than keep the doors open at BCCI

Know your BFEE: The Fellowship ‘Preys’ for America

Sink the BFEE: Foley gives us Congress. Condi sends 'em to prison.

Beat the BFEE: Poppy’s CIA warned about terror plots and did not stop them

Know your BFEE: Los Amigos de Bush

Know your BFEE: Neil Bush hangs out with Russian Mafiya Godfather

Know your BFEE: Poppy Bush was in Dallas the day JFK was assassinated.

Know your BFEE: Nazis couldn’t win WWII, so they backed Bushes.

Know your BFEE: At every turn, JFK was opposed by War Party

Know your BFEE: Lies Are the Currency of Their Realm

Know your BFEE: Cheney & Halliburton Sold Iran Nuke Technology

Know your BFEE: The Stench of Moussaoui Permeates the Octopus

Know your BFEE: Moussaoui Must Die for Bush and 'His' Government

Know your BFEE: Alito is just another word for Mussolini

Know your BFEE: Like a NAZI

Know your BFEE: The China-Bush Axis

Know your BFEE: Bush and bin Laden Clans Together in Bed

Know your BFEE: Libby Is the First Big BFEE Turd to Go Down

Know your BFEE: WHIG (White House Iraq Group) made phony case for Iraq War

Know your BFEE: The Secret Government

Know your BFEE: Reinhard Gehlen

Know your BFEE: Poppy Bush Armed Saddam

Know your BFEE: Killer Businessmen who put Power and Profit before Country

Know your BFEE: Nixon Threatened to Nuke Vietnam

Know your BFEE: Corrupt Craftsmen Hoover and Dulles

Know your BFEE: Poppy’s CIA Made Saddam Into the Butcher of Baghdad

Know your BFEE: Hitler’s Bankers Shaped Vietnam War

Know your BFEE: Merchants of Death

Know your BFEE: R. James Woolsey, Turd of War

Know your BFEE: Sneering Dick Cheney, Superturd-Superrich-Supercrook

Know your BFEE: Bush Lied America into War

Know your BFEE: James R Bath – Bush – bin Laden Link

Know your BFEE: War Profiteers

Know your BFEE: Dead Men Tell No Tales

Know your BFEE: Bush and bin Laden Clans Together in Bed

Know your BFEE: Rev. Sun Myung Moon OWNS Poppy Bush

Know your BFEE: Homeland Czar & Petro-Turd Bernie Kerik

Know your BFEE: American Children Used in Radiation Experiments

Know your BFEE: Eugenics and the NAZIs - The California Connection

Know your BFEE: The Barreling Bushes

Know your BFEE: A Crime Line of Treason

Know your BFEE: How Smirko Got Rich

Know your BFEE: George W Bush did "community service" at Project P.U.L.L.

Know your BFEE: Vote Suppressor Supreme, the Turd Bill Rehnquist

Know your BFEE: George W Bush Knew 9-11 Was Coming and Did NOTHING!

Know your BFEE: Oliver North, Drug Dealer

Know your BFEE: Pat Robertson Incorporated a Gold Mine with a Terrorist


These aren’t labeled “Know Your BFEE,” but they’re meant in the same spirit:

Poppy Bush Involved in JFK Assassination -- BFEE's Spooked!

Vietnam and Iraq Wars Started by Same People

BFEE Turd Daniel Pipes tied to DANISH CARTOONS

JFK Would NEVER Have Fallen for Phony INTEL!

Plame Affair makes clear: USA is run by TRAITORS.

How Cheney Got His SNEER: The Curse of Dick Cheney

BFEE Is More than Capable of Bombing Their Own Countrymen

Frank Church and the Abyss of Warrantless Wiretapping.


And for all my friends with those hard-to-reach areas between the ears:

A Short History of Conspiracy Theory


Note 1: The subject is a work in progress. The entries are not perfect, nor are they complete. They do provide a framework for a who's-who and what's-what and how we got here. Started for educational and historical purposes, these threads are meant to serve the public interest. What gives them a special quality are the contributions of DUers. May they also serve some prosecutor in the future.

Note 2: As no individual is totally evil or totally good, not all Bushes are evil or beholden to the BFEE. Nor are all those who gain by its existence members of the immediate or extended Bush family. Nor are the Bushes at the pinnacle of global power -- it is quite likely they serve an even wealthier class. What they all have in common is the use of the powers of the government of the United States for accumulating wealth and power for themselves, their associates and the other affiliated beneficiaries among the world's financial elite and authoritarian regimes. Always, they gain at the expense of the people and nations of the world, including the citizens of the United States and its Constitution.

[Kaleko]

28. Kick

[Octafish]

100. Stories a Free Press would cover: How Washington is Screwing Up Health Care Reform

How Washington is Screwing Up Health Care Reform – and Why It May Take a Revolt to Fix It

[madokie]

29. I've been saying this from day one here

its the fucking media why we are in the mess we're in today. I remember after the fall of nixon reading that the only way for them to get their message out was to buy up the media and buy up the media they did.
They in this case is the neocon fat cat corporate owners

Yea I'm old and I have a memory second to none

[OneGrassRoot]

34. +1...not about you being old...

but about what you said. ;)

I'm drawing a blank on the name of the legislation enacted, under Clinton in his second term, I believe, which said news shows would be part of the corporation's profit center, lumped in with entertainment.

That was a death knell for truth as well.

:hi:

[madokie]

38. Would it be the telecommunications act of '96

There were many changes made with that act.

All I know for sure is we better get this media thing under control or we'll lose what democracy we have left now.

[JSK]

30. We have always had crazies and loons

but they were NEVER given the platform they have been given today by the corporate media. Fringe groups were just that -- fringe. Today they are sought out and celebrated and made to appear mainstream. I would say it's scary, but it's way beyond that. How is this ever going to change?

[depakid]

31. They're still on the fringe in other western nations

Then again, other western nations have responsible mass media.

[iceman66]

32. Absolutely correct.

Why do you think a handful of loud idiots at a health care town hall get 10X the coverage of hundreds of thousands of war protesters in the Bush administration?

Why just now as I write this is CNN talking about how "unpopular" President Obama is with a 53% approval rating in their own poll? If Bush had those numbers, he would have been touted as the second coming of George Washington!

[Drix]

39. I wonder what the media response would have been....

if those thousands upon thousands of anti-war protesters had shown up with guns with lots of talk about watering the tree of liberty?

[Bjorn Against]

85. We didn't have to show up with guns...

If we attached our signs to sticks as has been commonly done in the past they were worried that we would use the sticks as weapons and we would have riot police surrounding us. Apparently using a stick to hold up a sign is a major threat to the public safety, but bringing an assault rifle to a Presidential event is perfectly fine.

[formercia]

33. ABC =CIA

http://www.smokershistory.com/abc.htm
--snip--
William Joseph Casey (1913-1987) was Director of Central Intelligence from 1981 to 1987. Casey and former officers of the Central Intelligence Agency set up the media holding company Capital Cities in 1954. "According to many investigators, during this period the CIA poured millions into setting up front companies for covert operations in broadcasting and publishing, and it is alleged that Casey funneled some of these funds into Capital Cities to acquire failing media companies and turn them around."

--snip--

Capital Cities, 1959

"Capital Cities Stations - WROW-AM-FM and WTEN (TV) Albany, WCDB (TV) Hagaman, both N.Y. WCDC (TV) Adams, Mass., WTVD (TV) Durham, N.C. and WPRO-AM-FM-TV Providence, R.I. Ownership: Lowell J. Thomas, 16.2%; Frank M. Smith, 12.10%; John P. McGrath, 5.1%; William J. Casey, 4.4%; Leo W. O'Brien, 2.03%; Dean P. Taylor, 2.6%; Mr. Thomas is the CBS commentator. Messrs. O'Brien and Taylor are Congressmen from New York." (Broadcasting Yearbook 1959, p. 403.)
Capital Cities' Takeover of ABC

"On November 21, 1984, the CIA asked the Federal Communications Commission to strip ABC of its five TV and 14 radio station licenses. (ABC has hundreds of affiliate radio and TV stations, but it's legally limited to owning just a few stations, all of which are located in the biggest, most lucrative markets.) The CIA was ostensibly upset because on Sept. 19-20, 1984, ABC News had aired allegations that the agency had contracted for the murder of Ron Rewald, a Honolulu swindler who claimed that his scams were directed by the CIA, of which he claimed to be a secret agent. The story supposedly so enraged then-CIA director William Casey that he asked the FCC to strike the ultimate economic death blow to ABC by revoking its station licenses. In February 1985, the CIA reduced its demands to asking for FCC penalties under the "Fairness Doctrine," which requires the broadcasters to air at least two sides of 'controversial issues of public importance.' In both FCC complaints, Bill Casey's CIA became the first government agency ever to seek such redress from the news media.

"On March 18, 1985, while the FCC considered Casey's complaints, ABC agreed to be acquired by Capital Cities, a media conglomerate with the lowest profile and highest profit margins in the broadcasting business. It was a "friendly" takeover; ABC chief Leonard Goldenson and Cap Cities president Tom Murphy had been close friends for years. Cap Cities also owns daily papers in Fort Worth and Kansas City, trade journals (including Women's Wear Daily) and, at that time, 55 cable TV systems." (The Seizing of the American Broadcasting Company. The LA Weekly, Feb. 20-27, 1987.)

--snip--

[Octafish]

94. The Seizing of the American Broadcasting Company

thank you for the important reminder, formercia.
From 22 years ago, we see how the Oh So Social
Mr. Casey put a stop to the liberal media, PFQ.

The Seizing of the American Broadcasting Company

The Seizing of the
American Broadcasting Company

This article originally appeared in the February 20-27, 1987 issue of The LA Weekly.

There is an untold story about the ABC television network. It is about how a company in which CIA Director William Casey is a major player took over the network. The least of the questions this raises is whether Casey used his CIA position to help drive down the price of ABC stock, thereby facilitating the takeover. The most important question it raises is, who really controls ABC, and what can be expected of these people?


* * *
This week network TV hit a new low with ABC's airing of its 14 and one-half hour, $40-million dollar "epic," Amerika. The xenophobic red-baiting engaged in by Amerika is hardly new to TV, but never before has a network spent so much time and money in such a blatant attempt to inspire in its audience jingoistic paranoia toward the Soviet Union and the United Nations. Small wonder that Mikhail Gorbachev complained to visiting American bigwigs earlier this month that "forces to which hostility is profitable ... use high-powered information media to sow hatred toward the Soviet Union."

The commotion about Amerika has obscured a much more serious problem about network TV, one that could serve to validate Gorbachev's complaint for years to come. Despite its length and its crass appeal to the dark side of the American character, Amerika is just a TV show. As such, it's not likely to have much lasting effect. However, that cannot be said of the changes in network ownership and control that have taken place over the last two years. These have transformed at least NBC and ABC from tasteless schlock-meisters merely striving to sell more ads into powerful information gatekeepers with strong ties to established power blocs that have their own aggressive foreign and domestic political agendas.

At issue in the ABC situation in particular is an extraordinary story overlooked by most of the press and never taken up by congressional investigators: Who actually took over ABC when Capital Cities Communications bought it in March 1985? For "Cap Cities" is no ordinary company, and the takeover was no ordinary case of corporate wheeling and dealing. Specifically, an L.A. Weekly investigation has found that:

Cap Cities' primary executive Thomas Murphy, his family and some of Cap Cities' founders had or have a relationship with another firm known to have excellent connections in the intelligence community through one of its subsidiaries. The same firm has also been accused of Mafia ties.

William Casey, the just-resigned head of the CIA and a lifelong maneuverer for that agency in the corporate and Wall Street communities, was and is a major player in Cap Cities. A founder and former director of the company, Casey placed all his stock holdings into a blind trust, except --- in violation of his agreement with Congress --- for his holdings in Cap Cities.

The CIA challenged ABC's right to retain its broadcasting licenses just before Cap Cities bought out the company and during the period it was negotiating for the purchase. This attack had the result of driving down the price of ABC stock on the public market.

In the Iran-Contragate aftermath, with some of the manipulations this administration and William Casey are wont to engage in becoming known, the Cap Cities-ABC deal and Casey's possible role in it have to be considered high on the curiosity list of unexplored events of the last couple of years. For with the Cap Cities takeover, one of the three primary influences on America's public consciousness was delivered into the hands of a company that may well have its own agenda.

CONTINUED...

http://www.ctka.net/abc_cap.html

Way back when, I, uh, knew a guy who worked with Cap Cities/ABC. Those who knew nothing about anything got the big promotions. Those who asked the "Why?" questions got the lousy jobs. Those who wondered about Dallas and the Savings & Loan mess got the night shift or shaft, depending on ad sales...

[NashVegas]

35. Ever Heard of a Little Thing Called the Internets?

There's nothing to stop you from starting a Meet-Up group and organizing, other than your own unwillingness to step up to the plate.

[Bjorn Against]

40. I am an activist myself and have been involved with plenty of organizing...

And I think the OP is absolutely correct. If we received even 5% of the coverage the teabaggers receive our numbers would grow exponentially, but it is a lot more difficult to get the word out through a Meet-up group than it is if you are receiving around the clock coverage on CNN and Fox News.

[NashVegas]

77. It's Not About That

Teabaggers are working with a strategy. Getting a message out means nothing if no one's stepping up to the plate. ANSWER is great for DC rallies, but who's organizing, say, Single Payer types to speak up at town hall meetings? Who's faxing and emailing the local/national media?

[maryf]

81. You are right about the internet, for maybe 20%...

We have to be the press in more ways than that though. You are right to about stepping up to the plate, but fliering and face to face is far better than the internet.

[Bjorn Against]

84. There are organizers out there but they need help

If you are concerned that the organizers aren't effective enough my advice would be to not complain about the organizers but rather get out there and help the organizers get word out. There are people trying to organize actions in all fifty states if people would spend less time complaining about how ineffective they are and more time helping them be effective then we would get a lot more accomplished.

I am not judging you because I have no idea of what kind of work you have done but in my personal experience I have seen that many of the people who complain about the troubles organizers have organizing masses of people never bother to attend the events that are organized. Community organizers are only effective if the community is willing to get organized so if you are concerned about this problem get out there and get active.

[tabasco]

41. Ever heard of thread shitting?

Go get a hobby.

[NashVegas]

76. Report It To the Mods

If you have a problem.

[watercolors]

37. we need a few weeks of turning of TV, radios

and all sources of news, including internet. SHUT IT ALL DOWN and then lets take a deep breath!

[spanone]

42. when blatant lies are presented as honest debate there is little hope

and today's media presents lies alongside truth as if they are equal

[G_j]

66. presenting lies, is presenting 'both sides'

but they will NEVER use the word "lie"

[G_j]

67. presenting lies, is presenting 'both sides'

but they will NEVER use the word "lie"

[SalviaBlue]

45. This has become abundantly clear to me.

The "underground" is the only way to get truth. It cannot be found in the mainstream media. I feel very sad to see how stupid and gullible many Americans are. I have a sister and Dad who consume the lies of Fox and Limbaugh and Beck and consider themselves to be more informed than the average American. I am embarrassed for them.

[newspeak]

46. thank you Octofish

that's what I've been saying. The reason why we are in the pickle we're in today is because MSM. They are complicit in dividing this nation. I use to buy the books "Censored." I haven't bought one since 2006, but the book has the news items that have been censored, or ignored by MSM. They have the power to persuade people by utilizing image creation PR-like everyone wants to have a beer with * (even though if you read some of the stories of his drunken days, it appears he may have been a mean drunk) and barely touch, or "sweep under the rug" all of his business dealings (possible insider trading at the tune of 848,000), to his military history, his purged driving record. The media helped create the image of * and hand fed that image to the American people. The media is complicit in selling the American people a war based on fabrications. Remember Phil Donahue, he had people on who refuted the BS coming from the government about Iraq. Then NBC shut him down. He was supposed to get on with their program-I was upset when they took him off the air and wrote to them, telling them that Pravda would be proud.

Most people go to work and after work turn on the TV. Very few reach out and find the truth or question what's being fed to them. Sometimes, it's just that they don't have the time or inclination, but some already have preconceived (mostly ignorant) ideas and prejudices. And, what these hate spewing, fear mongering talking heads do is validate their listener's mostly ignorant points of view.

This country very much is in danger of losing it's soul. The fear, hate and division is being created-created by business interests that don't want the spotlight shined on their activities. Divide the plebes, use some as willing pawns, and take the focus off their deeds and greedy, selfish interests.

[snot]

47. K&R'd.

[jgraz]

50. Of course, it doesn't help when the WH Chief of Staff calls liberal groups "fucking stupid"

If MoveOn, et al had run ads against insurance groups and blue dogs, it would be a whole different ball game right now.

[Hannah Bell]

80. he's right. "the left" has the power to organize people - but it only organizes them

for a limited range of activities, i.e. our most recent election.

"the left" doesn't seem to want to organize much else.

the reason "the right" wins is because "the left" lets them.

[jgraz]

87. You miss the point. He called them fucking stupid *because* they were organizing

As usual, Rahmsfeld was not only wrong, we was destructively, intentionally wrong.

[Hannah Bell]

91. whoops, even worse...

[Initech]

52. The mere fact that people think a secret government exists scares the shit out of me.

And the even scarier thing is - I agree completely with these people.

[windoe]

53. K & R You know I agree, well said.

Propaganda works, it is very powerful.

[windoe]

54. Media reform is mental healthcare reform-

is it not? The stories we are told day after day absolutely affect our minds, and is this not a part of health???? Doesn't propaganda create social disease by broadcasting lies and an artificial reality?

These people have become mentally ill, predisposed or not, and the rest of us have to suffer for it.

[Octafish]

58. Catch-22 Planet

The thing is: The world IS crazy.
So anyone who is driven crazy, really isn't.
It's those who remain sane
-- the disciplined minds --
in an insane world who are truly mad,
for they have allowed others to control
what they know and what they believe.



Through her art, Chantal Montellier creates a post-apocalyptic world where the insane have no clue...

[windoe]

60. The illusion of control

of a changing universe, is futile. It is really a dance, a response to one's environment. Concepts, religions, schools of thought are tools, a means and not an end, they are only the interface of our relationship with our world. To attach to them is to get caught in a time warp.

I think many people are caught in this time warp, they want the world to look like it did a long time ago (women and minorities in their place, for example), and spend all their vital force trying to create this bubble of reality against the cycle of change. It can only be maintained for awhile before it pops. a little longer if supported by Fox and friends.

Go with the flow, may the Force be with you :)

[David Zephyr]

74. The Sunday Talk Shows: Corporate "Liberal" vs Corporate "Conservative" Sponsored By Corporations

Yeah. That's an "honest" argument for the American people. Nice thread.

[Cha]

55. Oh yeah, ever since I've been paying attention since

2000 it's been the corporatemediawhores and continues to be. That's why I cancelled all corporatetvsn00ze and corporate mags.

Edit~ in 2002.

[Nikki Stone1]

56. Post-competitive capitalism needs totalitarian control.

Or so I've read.

[seafan]

61. Thanks, Octafish. n/t

[democracy1st]

62. K & R

[Alcibiades]

63. I spent my teen years in West Berlin

as it was called at the time, because my stepfather was stationed there. Stayed there for quite a while, because we liked it, so much so that he retired to a DoD civilian job there and didn't leave until the wall came down and the Berlin Brigade was reassigned.

Anyway, the point of this is that I used to watch the DFF quite a bit, and Fox News reminds me nothing so much of anything as it does the DDF. Not the tone, mind you--the tone of the DFF was more levelheaded than that of FOX--but in the absolute adherence to the party line. Fox News resembles nothing so much as a Stalinist propaganda network.



But no Sandmännchen.

[Kaleko]

96. For those who don't know what DFF stands for --

it's an abbreviation for the former East German "Deutscher Fernsehfunk" = German Television Broadcasting.

And you are so right, Alcibiades. Americans have been subjected to party-line propaganda strikingly similar to what East Germans had to endure, and for decades too.

No wonder you see so many brainwashed sheep-head comments made by otherwise functional Americans - and even on DU!

[Alcibiades]

102. The nice thing about state-controlled media

was that most folks knew it was propaganda. Today, many media outlets ought to bear the disclaimer "Official Organ of the Republican Party USA," but do not.

[democracy1st]

73. kick

[maryf]

82. Big Corporation advertising bucks

keep the media alive, and as you know, the corporations are a huge part of the government. Kick and wish I could have rec'd.

[Karenina]

86. Van Jones now has resigned

and too many STILL DON'T GET IT! :banghead:

[Emit]

89. A most important post, Octafish

:thumbsup:

[opihimoimoi]

92. Soon, the Puke Implosion will be at a Level of termination...they will change their Name and

disappear for 99303394761.09 years

The GOP is nothing but whiners and deniers....nit pickers that they are.

[butterfly77]

93. K&R!!!

[Kaleko]

101. Up to the top she goes, wheee.

[Lorax7844]

103. kick, no rec

cause it's too late.

[NuttyFluffers]

104. yup, turn it off people.

i suspect 1/2 the ratings for Glen Beck are casual and curious liberals waiting for him to pop his top. just. turn. it. off.

really, there's very little there that'll inform you. go watch real news like BBC, PBS, NPR, KPFA, whatever. but go watch real news, maybe even clever and catchy liberal shows, and leave the shitty propaganda-tainment and Faux News off. life's too short for bad beer and even worse media.